What's the latest word on the Emotiva UMC-1?

PS: No one should take this too seriously! It's just audio gear and most of us will have totally different stuff in 5 years anyway.

Except for my Merlin speakers, which I may be buried with!

Rob

Not everyone has access to every specific model of every ilk so no I didnt do a direct comparison but have heard it and to me its cold and sterile and doesnt involve me.
I said its good for the money and thats all I am going to say.

Well...I have directly compared the Emotiva XPA-3 & XPA-2 to some fairly good SS amps. You can do an search and see my comparison between the Emotiva XPA-3 and Rotel 1090, Odyssey Stratos and so on.
I have always wondered how people judged amps as anything without hearing them through several pre-amps.

Other insane items from Emotiva are their CD player which I also recently compared to the Rega Saturn (and others) and their USP-1 preamp, which lost in it's shootout with a Rogue Metis tube pre-amp, but not by much.

Obviously much of this is subjective. What sounds cold to you may sound detailed and accurate to someone else. I don't use the Emotiva gear for music much, but for home theater it's as good as anything I've tried. As I said, I've abandoned SS completely for amp/preamp on music.

Rob

"Other insane items from Emotiva are their CD player which I also recently compared to the Rega Saturn (and others) and their USP-1 preamp, which lost in it's shootout with a Rogue Metis tube pre-amp, but not by much."

It seems many things associated with emo are thought of as insane. I have heard the sauce used at emu-fest also described as insane by "wide ranging" Dan. So insane isn't all it is cracked up to be.

Well, James....in this case insane refers to the fact that Emotiva has several items on the market that are priced at a 3rd of what they should be.

The vast majority of those who bash companies like Emotiva, Outlaw and several other direct-to-buyer outfits, reject them with little to no real experience.

Years ago I owned a fairly good Parasound amp. My friend went out an bought an Outlaw amp for 40% less. Though I knew the paper specs were impressive I had faith that my Parasound would be better than the "bargain." It was poor logic as Outlaw's business model was to match or best amps like mine for less by not supporting ads and a dealer network. Of course these days Outlaw gets a good deal of respect. Emotiva is in that same camp, slowly gaining ground and is slowly pushing the boundaries of what some call "mid-fi." For home theater it's not just a good value, it's an insane one!

Rob